At the October 30, 2019 meeting, Commissioner Samuelian referred item C4 H for discussion to the Sustainability & Resilience Committee, which has been merged and renamed the Land Use and Sustainability Committee.  The January 13, 2020 Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee discussed establishing a historic preservation fund. 

Private property adaptation is a key element to reduce flood risk from sea level rise, storms, tidal flooding and rainfall.  Cities generally rebuild more resiliently after a disaster with the help of federal funding. However, cities and property owners can also be proactive through flood mitigation, the implementation of actions to reduce or eliminate the long- term risk of flood damage to buildings, other structures and infrastructure.

From the overall community perspective, the 2019 Community Satisfaction Survey shows that 43% of residents are satisfied, 33% neutral, and 24% dissatisfied with their buildings’ flood risk protections. In addition, “efforts to manage stormwater drainage and flooding” was ranked in the top 3 priorities for the city.  Being proactive makes significant financial sense- the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) released a finding that every $1 invested in disaster mitigation by three federal agencies saves society $6. The Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2017 Interim Report was the first part of the long-awaited update to a 2005 study that had identified a lower return on investment.  The city’s Business Case Analysis of the Stormwater Program mid-term results were released in August, illustrating significant benefits for resilience investments.  The full results will be presented at the January 27^th, 2020 Commission Workshop.

While South Florida leads the nation in efforts to reduce the risks from windstorm through the Florida Building Code and through programs such as the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing platform, the area of flood risk mitigation for private property is not as well developed.  This is particularly true for property owners who have not yet experienced damage but are at risk now in the future due to our region’s geographic location and sea level rise. The PACE program does not include flood mitigation at this time.

The City of Miami Beach leads in reducing flood risk for private properties through land development regulations for new construction and for substantial renovations.  For example, a total of 91 properties, either in construction or completion, are at an elevation higher than FEMA requirements.   A full listing of these efforts is available on www.mbrisingabove.com, the city’s website dedicated to building resilience and sustainability:  http://www.mbrisingabove.com/your-city-at-work/resilient-land-use-and-development/.  In addition, Historic District Resiliency Adaptation Guidelines will be presented to the Mayor and City Commission at the February 2020 Commission meeting, and possible legislation may be required to implement strategic and incentives.

The city also provides technical advice and awareness to private property owners through participating in the National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System (CRS).  As part of this, the Floodplain Manager is available to provide free onsite technical information upon request.  This is publicized through Miami Beach Magazine quarterly and at neighborhood meetings through the “10 Steps to Flood Awareness” document.   Another activity of the CRS is the creation of Fact Sheets to encourage the purchase of flood insurance and ways to increase resilience (see Attachment A). Efforts such as this led to the city improving its FEMA score from a 6 to a 5, saving policy holders 25% or $8.4 million annually in flood insurance premiums.  This helps to offset increasing federal rates. 

Generally, investment in private property is a personal expense, as opposed to the use of public dollars dedicated to public infrastructure.  Some cities do have interesting financial approaches to help property owners reduce risk. 

·       The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission created the Floodwater Management Grant Assistance Program in 2013 to help private properties make property improvements to help protect against flooding.  The program is funded with $1 million annually from combined stormwater and wastewater operating revenues.  The program has had forty potential applicants since 2013.  The projects to date have been primarily small scale, assisting with efforts such as backflow valves and trench drains.  The utility manages the projects and oversees a pool of contractors to design and construct the projects. The program has created database of project concepts (Attachment B).

·       The City of Norfolk, Virginia is working towards a smarter solution to manage flooding by encouraging homeowners to use small-scale green infrastructure at home to hold rain water where it falls. By using rain barrels, bioswales, blue-green roofs, cisterns and more, property owners can reduce the amount of water that goes into the stormwater system, which floods streets and neighborhoods. The city provides a discount to residential property owners who install stormwater management facilities (SWMF) voluntarily on their property to aid in stormwater runoff and/or pollutant removal. The discount is based on the item installed on the residential property and the area treated. Once the SWMF has been approved and installed, homeowners are required to complete an annual inspection report on June 1st each year thereafter for continued fee reduction consideration. For example, property owners can install one rain garden for a 20% credit and two rain barrels for a 10% credit each, a total of a 40% fee reduction.

·       The City of New Orleans, Louisiana participated in HUD’s National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC) and proposed in its application the creation of the city’s first comprehensive resilience district in Gentilly. New Orleans is working with partners to leverage existing investments and build on the experience of relevant pilot projects—from rain gardens to education programs—throughout the city. The Community Adaptation Program, or CAP, aims to connect low- and moderate-income homeowners with resources and labor to install features on their properties to reduce stormwater runoff.

·       Washington, DC has a Stormwater Retention Credit Trading Program.  Eligibile properties can generate and sell Stormwater Retention Credits (SRCs) to earn revenue for projects that reduce harmful stormwater runoff by installing green infrastructure (GI) or by removing impervious surfaces.

·       The City of Berkeley, California provides a partial rebate of the transfer tax on home sales to help fund seismic upgrades.  To be eligible for a reduction in the real estate transfer tax, building permits submitted for qualifying seismic strengthening work must comply with technical guidelines and administrative procedures.  While this is not flood-related, it is a program to reduce the risk of damages, in this case earthquakes.  In addition to the tax refund, PACE Financing is an option available to qualifying property owners.

A new opportunity is available to counties and cities through a $633 million HUD CDBG Mitigation grant. In addition to public infrastructure, the city has requested that funding for private property mitigation be included in this request.  While the application for counties and states has not yet been released, the following language has been included in the city’s comments on the State Action Plan:

Mitigation Funding for Private Property Programs: The city requests that funding for private property be included as an eligible expense through municipalities.  This would allow funding to be awarded to municipalities to work with affected neighborhoods, including homeowners and business to harden their facilities and mitigate flooding on private property from rainfall storms king tides and sea levels.  Private property mitigation includes but is not limited to reconstruction, elevation, flood proofing and flood sensors and harmonization to make the connection between the new height of the road and the existing properties.

This information is presented to the members of the Land Use and Sustainability Committee for discussion and further direction.